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NHL players are so ridiculously good at what they do that you sometimes kind of forget that it’s a game played on a big sheet of ice. And when you take away a player’s ability to skate, you’re quickly reminded how humbling a sheet of ice can be.

That’s what happened to Washington Capitals defenseman Steven Oleksy on Monday night as the Caps took on the Vancouver Canucks. The D-man broke a skate blade in the first period after blocking a shot.

That’s where things got dicey for Oleksy. He tried — oh man, did he try — to get back to the bench. He eventually succeeded in that endeavor but it certainly wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy.